Mani Ratnam who has been concentrating on several themes and at pan Indian flicks is back to romantic entertainers with Kadal. Kadal will have music by Isai Puyal AR Rahman. Everything about the movie has been closely guarded by Mani and his team.
 
'Kadal' sees Gautham and Tulasi in the lead roles. While Gautham is the son of yesteryear hero Karthik, Tulasi is the second daughter of Radha. Tulasi is only a tenth standard student and was reportedly convinced by Mani for the project and plays a girl of her age in the film. Both, Gautham and Tulasi have been guarded from the watchful eyes of the media and shutterbugs haven't even caught a glimpse of them!
 
Initially Samantha was supposed to play the lead role but was dropped from the project. While some say she walked out of it due to skin allergies, others have it that, Mani and Rajiv weren't satisfied with her scenes with Gautham as she wasn't convincing as a girl younger to him.
 
Kadal is about the lives of fishermen and sees Aravind Swamy and Lakshmi Manchu in important roles. Major portions of the film were canned at Kerala and in parts of Andaman.